CVE-2023-53537 [High] | Use-After-Free in Linux Kernel

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: f2fs: fix to avoid use-after-free for cached IPU bio xfstest generic/019 reports a bug: kernel BUG at mm/filemap.c:1619! RIP: 0010:folio_end_writeback+0x8a/0x90 Call Trace: end_page_writeback+0x1c/0x60 f2fs_write_end_io+0x199/0x420 bio_endio+0x104/0x180 submit_bio_noacct+0xa5/0x510 submit_bio+0x48/0x80 f2fs_submit_write_bio+0x35/0x300 f2fs_submit_merged_ipu_write+0x2a0/0x2b0 f2fs_write_single_data_page+0x838/0x8b0 f2fs_write_cache_pages+0x379/0xa30 f2fs_write_data_pages+0x30c/0x340 do_writepages+0xd8/0x1b0 __writeback_single_inode+0x44/0x370 writeback_sb_inodes+0x233/0x4d0 __writeback_inodes_wb+0x56/0xf0 wb_writeback+0x1dd/0x2d0 wb_workfn+0x367/0x4a0 process_one_work+0x21d/0x430 worker_thread+0x4e/0x3c0 kthread+0x103/0x130 ret_from_fork+0x2c/0x50 The root cause is: after cp_error is set, f2fs_submit_merged_ipu_write() in f2fs_write_single_data_page() tries to flush IPU bio in cache, however f2fs_submit_merged_ipu_write() missed to check validity of @bio parameter, result in submitting random cached bio which belong to other IO context, then it will cause use-after-free issue, fix it by adding additional validity check.

#	Date	Old EPSS score	New EPSS score	Delta (New - Old)
1	2025-10-05	—	0.02%	—

Date

Old EPSS score

New EPSS score

Delta (New - Old)

2025-10-05

—

0.02%

—

Base score	Version	Severity	Vector	Exploitability	Impact	Score source
7.8	3.1	HIGH	`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H` Click to expand Attack vector (AV:L) They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by. Attack complexity (AC:L) Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup. Privileges required (PR:L) A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin. User interaction (UI:N) Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping. Scope (S:U) Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems. Confidentiality (C:H) Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way. Integrity (I:H) They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt. Availability (A:H) Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.	1.8	5.9	[email protected]

Base score

Version

Severity

Vector

Exploitability

Impact

Score source

7.8

3.1

HIGH

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand

Attack vector (AV:L): They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
Attack complexity (AC:L): Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L): A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N): Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U): Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H): Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H): They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H): Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.

1.8

5.9

[email protected]

OS Trackers for CVE-2023-53537

vendor	priority	summary	link
`debian`	not yet assigned	CVE-2023-53537 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (linux), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5.	https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2023-53537
`redhat`	medium	—	https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-53537
`suse`	medium	CVE-2023-53537 severity moderate: SUSE including 26 source package names (cluster-md-kmp-default, dlm-kmp-default, …), 182 product×package rows across 38 product lines (SLES-LTSS-TERADATA 15 SP2, SUSE Linux Enterprise High Availability Extension 15 SP7, … (38 product lines)): Known Not Affected 182.	https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-53537/
`ubuntu`	medium	CVE-2023-53537 medium priority: Ubuntu including 158 source packages (linux, linux-allwinner-5.19, …), 1414 status rows across 9 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 1017, ignored 158, not-affected 122, released 116, needs-triage 1.	https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2023-53537

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-53537

Vendor	Product	Version	Raw CPE
linux	linux_kernel	>= 5.5, < 5.10.180	cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel::::::::
linux	linux_kernel	>= 5.11, < 5.15.111	cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel::::::::
linux	linux_kernel	>= 5.16, < 6.1.28	cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel::::::::
linux	linux_kernel	>= 6.2, < 6.2.15	cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel::::::::
linux	linux_kernel	>= 6.3, < 6.3.2	cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel::::::::

References for CVE-2023-53537

URL	Tags
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/5cdb422c839134273866208dad5360835ddb9794	Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7d058f0ab161437369ad6e45a4b67c2886e71373	Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/97ec6f1788cc6bee3f8c89cb908e1a2a1cd859bb	Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/9a7f63283af6befc0f91d549f4f6917dff7479a9	Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/af4ce124d7bd74cb839bbdaccffbb416771a56b5	Patch
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b2f423fda64fb49213aa0ed5056079cf295a5df2	Patch

URL

CVE-2023-53537 | f2fs: fix to avoid use-after-free for cached IPU bio

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2023-53537

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2023-53537

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2023-53537

OS Trackers for CVE-2023-53537

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-53537

References for CVE-2023-53537